Chapter 21

After encountering Zhao Chuan, Cheng Yang and his group rescued over twenty people in just over ten minutes. At this point, they dared not stay any longer in the ruins of Huimin Town and immediately decided to turn around and head back to Luofeng Village.

"Where are you going? Aren't you going to save more people?" A middle-aged man in his forties, who had just been rescued, saw Cheng Yang's direction change towards the outskirts of Huimin Town and quickly walked up to him to ask.

Cheng Yang glanced at the man, who was slightly overweight and dressed in a suit, and deduced that he must have been a person of some status before the apocalypse. However, Cheng Yang was not concerned and calmly said, "We can only save so many people at once. If there are too many, we won't be able to take care of them all."

The man said, "No, you must go and save my son first. I can pay you, ten thousand, is that enough? One hundred thousand..."

Cheng Yang's face turned cold, and he said, "If you want to live, shut your mouth. Otherwise, I don't mind leaving you here."

"You..." The man felt a chill in his heart but, not one to back down easily, he continued, "You are refusing to save lives. I am..."

Before he could finish, someone nearby stepped forward and covered his mouth, saying, "My brother is talking nonsense. You don't need to mind him. Our lives are saved by you, and we will follow your arrangements."

Cheng Yang gave the two men a deep look and asked, "What's your name?"

The man replied, "I am Hu Yang, and he is my younger brother, Hu Jun. We are both natives of Huimin Town."

Cheng Yang's eyes flickered, and he said, "Hu Yang, I hope you remember what you said today."

"Of course, of course!" Hu Yang hurriedly said.

Cheng Yang then ignored the two men and paid no attention to their thoughts. In the post-apocalyptic world, without strength, schemes and tricks would not work.

They quickly returned to Luofeng Village. Along the way, they encountered some monsters, but Cheng Yang and his group quickly eliminated them.

After returning to the village, Cheng Yang did not immediately let the rescued people change their professions. Instead, he instructed Yu Kai and others to bring back some meat from the mutated beasts and have it roasted. They had not eaten for two meals in a row, so solving the food problem was the top priority.

Cheng Yang then set out again with Liu Hao and others. Since they had just cleared the area, they encountered very few mutated beasts this time and quickly reached Huimin Town.

This time, their main task was still to rescue people, but they also found a lot of food in the ruins, including several bags of rice. Since the rules of the world had changed, food would become a very scarce resource. Only those with specific secondary professions could successfully grow crops, so these few bags of rice were extremely valuable.

Cheng Yang and his group returned to Luofeng Village with more people and supplies. The originally empty base now seemed much livelier. With the addition of the original twenty people, the number of people in the base was now close to eighty, bringing them one step closer to the population limit required for the base to upgrade.

However, Cheng Yang did not plan to be limited by the base's population. If they did not rescue more people during the early stages of the apocalypse, it would be much harder to increase the population later.

For the entire day, Cheng Yang led the group back and forth between Luofeng Village and Huimin Town, increasing the population of Luofeng Village to two hundred.

As night fell, they stopped their actions. The more than ten groups of mutated creatures in Huimin Town were undoubtedly a huge bomb. In the dark, with their vision affected, they could not guarantee safe proximity.

In the evening, Cheng Yang called Yu Kai, Liu Hao, and Niu Bing into his house. Although it was only the second day of the apocalypse, the population of Luofeng Village had already exceeded two hundred, and some matters needed to be addressed in advance.

"Yangzi, why did you call us here?" Niu Bing asked as soon as he entered.

Cheng Yang, who was already immune to this thick-skinned guy, said, "Don't you have any questions you want to ask me privately?"

Niu Bing said, "What's there to ask? In this world, surviving is the most important thing. I'm only worried about my parents. I wonder how they are doing."

Niu Bing's words made the other two fall into thoughts of their loved ones. However, their families were in other provinces, and they couldn't even reach Xiangcheng City, let alone other distant places.

"Yangzi, do you think I will have the chance to see our parents again?" Liu Hao also asked.

Cheng Yang smiled bitterly and said, "I'm not sure about the specifics. Before the apocalypse, I suddenly knew some scattered information, including news related to Luofeng Village, which is why I called you here first. In the city center, there will be statues for changing professions, which is why I asked you to persuade your families to stay near the city center yesterday."

In fact, Cheng Yang had concealed some information. Rebirth was his biggest secret, and he could not reveal it to anyone, so he used this not-so-good excuse to cover it up.

Liu Hao and the others did not suspect anything. After a moment of silence, Liu Hao said, "Yangzi, I won't say thanks as a brother. This world has completely changed, and I will follow you. I believe that as long as my parents are still alive, I will see them again one day."

Niu Bing also said, "After what happened yesterday, we are brothers who have risked our lives together. Yangzi, I won't say more, but from now on, my life is in your hands. Don't let me down."

Yu Kai looked at Liu Hao and Niu Bing and smiled, "Since these two have said so much, if I don't say anything, I'll seem out of place. Now I don't want to ask why you knew these things in advance, nor do I want to know why the world has changed. I only know that at a critical moment, you pulled me out of the disaster in Huimin Town. In the face of a disaster that affects the entire world, we can't rely on other rescue forces; we can only rely on ourselves. At this moment, I can only trust you few. In this small group, you, Yangzi, are the most qualified and capable to lead us. As long as you don't mind us being a burden, your decisions will be our decisions, and our fates will be forever tied together."

Cheng Yang looked at the three of them, deeply moved. This kind of trust in entrusting one's life was heavy. For example, now, Cheng Yang felt that if he could not lead these brothers to a bright future, he would be letting them down. He did not doubt the sincerity of their words because his past experiences had already told him that these three brothers were trustworthy.

Cheng Yang then said, "Since you trust me so much, I won't be pretentious. When I decided to occupy this Luofeng Village, I already decided the path I would take. The only thing I can do is make sure you won't regret your decision today."

Yu Kai said, "Yangzi, what do you plan to do next?"

Cheng Yang said, "The most important thing now is to enhance the strength of the entire base and quickly upgrade Luofeng Village to level 2. Then we will have the ability to return to Xiangcheng City. After rescuing the relatives of Li Wanshan and others, we can focus on developing the base. Once we have enough strength, we will find your families."

Yu Kai thought for a moment and said, "Yangzi, have you considered that the reason these people are willing to stay in our base is not because they are willing to follow your orders, but because they have no other choice. If we open the way to Xiangcheng City in the future, will they still be united with us? Even if they return to Luofeng Village, if there are some ambitious people who cause trouble, we four might not be able to control them."

Cheng Yang said, "I have considered what you said, and that's why I called you here tonight. I plan to divide the current people into five teams, with each of us responsible for one team, and the remaining team led by Li Wanshan. Although I'm not sure if Li Wanshan is reliable, he is undoubtedly a rare talent."

Niu Bing was surprised and said, "What's the difference? It doesn't seem to solve the problem you mentioned earlier."

Before Cheng Yang could speak, Yu Kai glared at him and said, "You never think. Yangzi has his reasons for letting each of us lead a team. This way, we can manage the people under our command and identify those who can be useful to us. In simpler terms, we can cultivate a group of loyal followers. If someone causes trouble, we can handle it."

Niu Bing smiled bitterly and said, "You guys are so complicated. Just do as you see fit; I'll follow you."

Liu Hao thought for a moment and said, "Yangzi, the method you mentioned can only solve the problem of someone causing trouble. But what if those people join Xiangcheng City? Won't we end up with nothing?"

Cheng Yang said very confidently, "You can rest assured. Compared to Xiangcheng City, this place is a paradise. I believe anyone with a bit of foresight will know how to choose. The most critical point is that once someone changes their profession at a statue in a base, they cannot advance at a statue in another base, including the main city, unless they complete their apprenticeship. If they forcibly leave the relationship with Luofeng Village or I expel them from Luofeng Village, their abilities will completely disappear."

Cheng Yang thought for a moment and continued, "I plan to inform them of this situation before we open the way to Xiangcheng City. I believe they will know how to choose."

PS: Thank you for your support yesterday. I will try to upload this additional chapter late at night. Do you want another update tomorrow? Please add to your favorites! We only gained 40 new followers today...

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